NEWS ROUNDUP

Bureau head explains near shut-off of Klamath Project The head of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation this week responded to lawmakers who asked nearly three months ago why farmers almost lost their supply of irrigation water in the middle of the growing season. But the response from Reclamation Commissioner John Keys shed no new light on what lower-level Reclamation officials have said all along: water conditions changed radically as the season progressed, making it hard to predict how supplies would hold up...Private firm to review status of owl, murrelet Bending to criticism that they lean too far in favor of wildlife, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials for the first time will hire a private business to help determine whether threatened species should keep their federal protection...Agency backs wolf plan Montana's Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission on Thursday backed the state's plan for managing gray wolves once the animals are removed from federal protection, an official said... IDAHO ATTORNEY GENERAL BACKING UP FEDERAL CHALLENGE OVER WOLVES IN SAWTOOTH NATIONAL RECREATION AREA Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden is backing up a federal challenge over wolves in the Sawtooth National Recreation Area. The Idaho republican says he filed a "friend of the court" brief earlier this week in support of an appeal of US District Judge B. Lynn Windmill's injunction. Windmill banned the US Fish and Wildlife Service from enforcing wolf reintroduction regulations in the Stanley Basin... Wolf suspected in sheep deaths A recent rash of sheep killings in northern Utah has the Division of Wildlife Services thinking wolf, but director Mike Bodenchuk stops just short of labeling the culprit, citing a lack of physical or visual evidence. "I cannot confirm the presence of a wolf there. The killings suggest a wolf and I am comfortable saying it is a large canine," Bodenchuk said. "I can say it wasn't a coyote or a bear or a lion." ...Wildlife officials craft rules on wolves State wildlife officers now have official guidelines governing what to do if wild wolves wander into Colorado from Wyoming or New Mexico. At the Colorado Wildlife Commission meeting Wednesday, Wildlife Division Director Russ George said the commission and the legislature have banned reintroduction of wolves in Colorado...OPM mulls salary increase for federal firefighters Federal firefighters could get a salary boost under an Office of Personnel Management proposal to raise the entry-level General Schedule grade for those jobs...Conservation groups OK’d to defend amendments Four conservation groups have been given the green light to wade into a thorny lawsuit that, if successful, would turn back the clock on 10 years of forest management. The suit was filed in June by Montanans for Multiple Use and 13 co-plaintiffs, including timber, mining and off-road vehicle interests. Flathead and Sanders counties also joined the industry groups... 2 plead guilty to illegally making forest trail Two Salt Lake County men charged in connection with an Eagle Scout project gone awry pleaded guilty Thursday to illegally constructing a trail in the Wasatch-Cache National Forest. Wendell Burt and Scott Vanleeuwen appeared before U.S. Magistrate Brooke Wells, who fined them $50 each and ordered them to pay $35,286 in restitution... Hike for freedom That is the sort of inspiration that the Sept. 11 memorial flag on top of Peak 1 has brought to people since it was first placed on Sept. 16, 2001. It's why Kurt Kizer put it there in the first place, and why he has organized group hikes to replace it on the anniversaries since. "I was very happy to see the Forest Service come to the right decision," Kizer said later in the afternoon about getting the necessary permit to organize the hike. As late as Wednesday, the Forest Service was prepared to deny the permit based on policies that ban permanent structures or memorials on public land...Infusion for forests in works Top officials in the U.S. Forest Service's Rocky Mountain region in late August allocated up to $9 million for several large-scale forest health projects - and Front Range communities at risk from wildfire stand to benefit, said regional forester Rick Cables... Two groups file protests to halt BLM logging project Two environmental groups filed a formal protest this week over a project to log Bureau of Land Management lands near Clancy and Unionville, saying they fear the work will harm water quality... Recovery plan for Gila trout revised A revised version of the 10-year recovery plan for the endangered Gila trout was published in Wednesday's edition of the Federal Register. "New genetic and scientific information gathered since 1993 warranted revision of several components of the recovery plan, including criteria for downlisting and delisting the species," according to a U.S. Fish and Wildlife news release...Agency can file for instream flows An instream flow plan that outlines the Wyoming Game and Fish Department's beneficial use of Wyoming's water for trout restoration meets state law and constitutional muster, according to Wyoming Attorney General Patrick Crank...West Nile prompts sage grouse closuresThe Wyoming Game and Fish Commission closed three northern counties to sage grouse hunting Thursday because of West Nile concerns. Since August, 11 sage grouse in Johnson, Sheridan and Campbell counties have been diagnosed with the mosquito-borne virus, and officials are worried how the area's population will be affected...